Re: [mv] minivend--interchange documentation

[John Beima <jbeima@palb.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from John Beima <jbeima@palb.com>     ******

G'Day Greg,

I would like to make a couple of sujestions...

The documentation really needs to be present from a MML format and not a 
Perl format. If you look at the Tag reference manual, you will see 
every example is shown as it was being used in Perl. This should be 
changed to show pratical example of how the tag was ment to be used in 
MML format.

Personally I find that when you go through the list, far to often Perl is 
stuck in to solve a problem, because people don't know how to make the 
tag do what they want it to do.

I have found that you actually just about never have to result to perl. 
After extensive MML programming, I can solve just about every solution 
with straight up MML tags, now that I better know how to format them. 
Since a lot of the problems are not what you are trying to do, as how you 
think the tag should work and it doesn't. Take the [if] statement, there 
are literally millions of different ways you can ask your questions, but 
only certain formats work all the time.

Also take the "[select]" tag, it doesn't seem to like being handed a 
database call as a compare, but if you stick that value in a scratch 
variable and then hand it to the compre it works fine. Little things like 
that.

Basicly more verbose, longer, and pratical explanations, with more MML 
orientated examples is what everyone needs.

Actually I find that a lot of Mike's explanations are not bad, when you 
catch onto his writing style, where I hit my head on the wall, is 
pratical examples of MML code. Since I like most of us, learn by seeing, 
re-creating, and playing.

John Beima



Quoting "Greg (Sonny) Cook" <sonny@akopia.com>:

> ******    message to minivend-users from "Greg (Sonny) Cook"
> <sonny@akopia.com>     ******
>
>
> Hi all,
> By way of introduction, I am one of the developers at Akopia.  I have
> taken on (bravely IMHO) the task of documentation organization for our
> next release of intervend.  Even though I am personally opposed to
> documentation, I have a grand vision for a complete set of documents of
> the project.  Kind of everything from "What's a computer?" to 
"minichange
> hacker" level.  There is of course an already extant and rather copious
> corpus avaliable from Mike.  I've noticed it's still pretty hard to get
> going though.  At any rate, rather than share my concerns with the 
present
> state of the documentation, I'd like to determine what sort of
> documentation people would like to see.  Also what do you think we 
could
> do to the current documentation to improve it.  If you're feeling 
really
> ambitious, you could even write all of the documentation I want for me
> :-}.
>
> Currently I am combing through the mailing list archives, trying to 
rescue
> usefull information from the past.
>
> Thanks,
> Sonny Cook
>
>
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